Best CROP setup for architecture ? ? ?

[Andalib]

Hi

I'm going to Indian subcontinent to take some photos for a book. I'll be shooting architecture (specifically modern buildings) both interior and exterior and the buildings will be shot in available (natural or artificial ) light. Remember the images will be printed in a book.

Now, I'm in a budget so can't go for a FF system, so what do guys think will be the best setup for this specific situation. Please do not limit your suggestion only in body and lens. Right now I use a 300D and was contemplating on upgrading so any suggestion is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Andalib

 

[JimH]

If so, then this opens things up considerably.

If not, then I recommend an IS lens for any low-light shots so you can still use smaller apertures to get best DOF and sharpness and/or lower ISOs for lowest noise.

The 17-55 f/2.8 IS may be the best choice for this reason. But again, if you can work from a tripod, then the IS is not required.

The EF-S 10-22mm is also handy for interiors because it goes very wide.

The 40D is probably the best of the "crop" cameras at this point.

--
Jim H.

 

[Badbatz]

Do yourself a favor and get a 24mm T/S lens: otherwise - good luck with your book!

 

[Andalib]

If so, then this opens things up considerably.

If not, then I recommend an IS lens for any low-light shots so you
can still use smaller apertures to get best DOF and sharpness and/or
lower ISOs for lowest noise.

Thanks Jim,

Yes I'll be using tripod all the time. I have Tokina 12-24 f/4 and it's a very good copy so, that might substitute for the Canon 10-20 thought I'll lose that extra 2mm on wide end but I think that is not going to make a huge difference.

Andalib

 

[Andalib]

Do yourself a favor and get a 24mm T/S lens: otherwise - good luck
with your book!

Thanks Bob

Enlighten me about the 24mm T/S a bit, on a crop body is it going to be a 35mm lens ? In that case I think it's now wide enough for architecture and is the perspective correction issue can be covered in photoshop ?

Andalib

 

[Badbatz]

Perspective correction - to a degree - can be corrected in post processing, but not the plane of focus (i.e. the tilt effect) which may be important in many situations (interiors, tall, wide and deep buildings, etc.) Yeah, 24 T/S works like a 36 mm on a crop body but you don't have any other option, do you? You may want to use a wider lens for some shots, but wider lenses have their warts as well (extreme perspective distortion, near-far object relationship problems, optical distortion, such as barrel, etc.) which may or may not be beneficial to your project.

 

[John down under]

Hi Andalib.

A TS-E is fine when it's wide enough, but for architecture, it just isn't wide enough too often, at least from my experience. I don't have a TS-E lens and have never used one, but I've needed to go WAY wider than a 24 TS-E lens will allow on a 1.6 crop factor more often than not. Wider lenses also inherently have higher DOF, so as long as you stop down to a reasonalbe degree (at least f/8, but prefereably f/11 on a 1.6 crop body), the plane of focus won't be much of an issue when compared to the more favourable plane of focus a TS-E lens can provide.

Also, the wider you go, the slower the shutter speed you can get away with before handheld camera shake factors in very much.

For these reasons, the EF-S 10-22 on a 40D body would be a useful choice, not just for tripod, but also handheld shooting. The EF-S 17-55/2.8 IS might be a good choiice as a 2nd lens if you want to cover wider focal lengths, or throw the 24 TS-E into the mix instead.

I've used my 10-22 on a 20D for architecture a number of times, more often than not at 10mm, not just for the ability to include more detail because of the wide FOV, but also for the creative options that gives me with emphasising closer points of interest.

When space gets tight and I can't use a tripod, I don't hesitate to shoot handheld at 10mm and say ISO 800 with shutter speeds of 1/20 sec or so, sometimes slower, even down to less than 1/10 sec. For slower shutter speeds, I usually take bursts of three shots to improve the chances of getting a sharp result. In-camera review quickly shows you the keepers vs non-keepers.

Here's some of my architecture, mostly taken with the much taken with 20D + EF-S 10-22 lens. The main exception is where I used a 5D + 17-40 for the numbered photos in the Soudai gallery starting with the one with the green apples on the dining table.
http://www.pbase.com/jhphoto/architecture_serenity

--
Cheers from John from Adelaide, South Australia
John Harvey Photography http://johnharvey.com.au
Canon 40D, Canon 20D & Fuji F10

 

[Andalib]

I was going thru your gallery its really impressive, specially the colors are very good. and thanks for the 3 burst tip, it might come handy as Ill be shooting quite a bit of tight interior situations in available light.

Andalib

 

[Voyager13b]

I agree. I shoot furnished interiors and exterior community photos for high end rental properties for my day job, and my favorite working cameras have been my 30D's, and lately, my 40D (sweet). The two lenses that I use most often are the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS, and the EF-S 10-22. I find the TS lenses to be a bit too long on a crop camera for much of my work, and the 10-22 just seems to be more useful to me. If you keep it level in both axis when you take the shot, you can get most any building in a good basic shot, and correct perspective details in PP with no problem.

TS lenses do have their advantages, but for me, they apply more to changing the plane of focus in product shots, rather than plain perspective correction in architectural shooting that can be done very well in PP if the basic shot is sound.

I do think that the EF-S 10-22 is worth the extra cash over the 12 mm competition, as I like the way it performs in terms of AF, and IQ, and most importantly, that extra 2 mm of wide reach is really huge, and it allows me to get lots more building in a shot when the camera is set straight and level. That makes PP perspective correction that much easier.

--
Voyager

 

[Don Dement]

I use a Sigma 10-20 on my 40D, plus PTLens plug-in for automated distortion corrections in Photoshop Elements. Any of the ultra-wide angles UWA are going to have barrel distortion at their widest limits and it ought to be corrected.

PTLens also permits manual corrections for non-horizontal UWA shooting.

With this inexpensive rig I make perfectly rectilinear images even at deliberate down-angles to get more interesting objects in a room.

If you want to shoot RAW, then you should batch convert RAWs using Breezebrowser because it incorporates the PTLens automated distortion corrections.

I recommend this powerful combination for thrift and speed in interior shooting.

Don D

 

[Tizzio]

I shot a lot of architecture and landscape images with a 20D 30D with a 10-22EFS before upgrading to a 5D couple months ago. For architecture, sky is the limit for digital gears, so for crop cams, all you need is an UWA lens as a must have, I like Canon's 10-22 EFS alot and reckon it one of the best UWA available, IQwise, its comparable if not better than the 17-40L on FF.

If you are on a budget like everyone does, I highly recommend the following setups:

1. Keep your 300D, get an EF-S 10-22 to cover 95% of your exterior and interior shots, and a 50/1.8 for low light and mid-tele architectural details.

2. Upgrade your 300D to a 40D together with the EF-S 10-22 and bring whatever mid zooms you already have.

3. I would forget bringing anything longer than a 70-200 zoom for that extremely occasional tele architectural shots.

4. Sufficient storage, a lowly laptop is very useful as a mass storage and viewing device on the road.

5. Try your best to shoot RAW, dont risk your chances for publishing by shooting Jpeg. Canon's DPP has very useful 'standard' and ' landscape' modes for batch architectural shots pp.

6. For whichever cam, all you need is 1 extra battery as a stand-by.

7. Bring your P&S if you got one, for all those hit & run shots lol.

8. Travel as light as possible.

Im pretty sure your gonna have a once in a lifetime architectural photo fieldtrips in India.

Have a blast and good luck.

Hi

I'm going to Indian subcontinent to take some photos for a book. I'll
be shooting architecture (specifically modern buildings) both
interior and exterior and the buildings will be shot in available
(natural or artificial ) light. Remember the images will be printed
in a book.

Now, I'm in a budget so can't go for a FF system, so what do guys
think will be the best setup for this specific situation. Please do
not limit your suggestion only in body and lens. Right now I use a
300D and was contemplating on upgrading so any suggestion is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Andalib

 

[John down under]

I use a Sigma 10-20 on my 40D, plus PTLens plug-in for automated
distortion corrections in Photoshop Elements. Any of the ultra-wide
angles UWA are going to have barrel distortion at their widest limits
and it ought to be corrected.

Don, I use PTLENS too and find it to be invaluable, certainly exceptional value for money. I don't know whether the database has been updated for the 40D + various lenses, but hopefully so. I must check.

PTLens also permits manual corrections for non-horizontal UWA shooting.

With this inexpensive rig I make perfectly rectilinear images even at
deliberate down-angles to get more interesting objects in a room.

If you want to shoot RAW, then you should batch convert RAWs using
Breezebrowser because it incorporates the PTLens automated distortion
corrections.

I recommend this powerful combination for thrift and speed in
interior shooting.

Don D

--
Cheers from John from Adelaide, South Australia
John Harvey Photography http://johnharvey.com.au
Canon 40D, Canon 20D & Fuji F10

 

[John down under]

I was going thru your gallery its really impressive, specially the
colors are very good. and thanks for the 3 burst tip, it might come
handy as Ill be shooting quite a bit of tight interior situations in
available light.

Andalib

Hi Andalib. I'm glad you found some things you liked in my galleries. I wouldn't be without my three burst sequence in tight situations. It's not even always the same shot in the burst that's the best one, and from trial and error it seems to pay off to have at least three in the burst.

--
Cheers from John from Adelaide, South Australia
John Harvey Photography http://johnharvey.com.au
Canon 40D, Canon 20D & Fuji F10

 

[John down under]

I agree. I shoot furnished interiors and exterior community photos
for high end rental properties for my day job, and my favorite
working cameras have been my 30D's, and lately, my 40D (sweet). The
two lenses that I use most often are the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS, and the
EF-S 10-22. I find the TS lenses to be a bit too long on a crop
camera for much of my work, and the 10-22 just seems to be more
useful to me. If you keep it level in both axis when you take the
shot, you can get most any building in a good basic shot, and correct
perspective details in PP with no problem.

TS lenses do have their advantages, but for me, they apply more to
changing the plane of focus in product shots, rather than plain
perspective correction in architectural shooting that can be done
very well in PP if the basic shot is sound.

I do think that the EF-S 10-22 is worth the extra cash over the 12 mm
competition, as I like the way it performs in terms of AF, and IQ,
and most importantly, that extra 2 mm of wide reach is really huge,
and it allows me to get lots more building in a shot when the camera
is set straight and level. That makes PP perspective correction that
much easier.

Hi Voyager. Good to see a kindred spirit with the 10-22. The only thing that I'd prefer to be different is its treatment of specular highlights when stopped down. Most other lenses stopped down produce star patterns with fine points from specular highlights. As you'd know, the 10-22 star pattern is more like fan blades instead. Not a big deal, but just not as pretty.

--
Cheers from John from Adelaide, South Australia
John Harvey Photography http://johnharvey.com.au
Canon 40D, Canon 20D & Fuji F10

 

[Don Dement]

The lens database in PTLens is up to date with the 40D. I've made the calibration shots for PTLens on the Sigma 10-20 and the Tamron 28-250 and the distortion corrections now available on his site are as nearly perfect as I can determine by eye.

However, I find that Breezebrowser's use of PTLens in its very useful automatic distortion correction (that uses PTLens embedded in its batch RAW conversions) is not as good as it should be. I have the feeling that the correction coefficients there might be borrowed from another lens. Don't know how to fix that except to rag on the developers to do something. Maybe I'm too fussy.

Glad to hear you are getting along with PTLens. I'm regularly astonished at what it does for UWAs and how it does it in the user interfaces.

Don D

 

[John down under]

The lens database in PTLens is up to date with the 40D. I've made the
calibration shots for PTLens on the Sigma 10-20 and the Tamron 28-250
and the distortion corrections now available on his site are as
nearly perfect as I can determine by eye.

Thanks Don. Time for me to get a PTLENS database update then.

However, I find that Breezebrowser's use of PTLens in its very useful
automatic distortion correction (that uses PTLens embedded in its
batch RAW conversions) is not as good as it should be. I have the
feeling that the correction coefficients there might be borrowed from
another lens. Don't know how to fix that except to rag on the
developers to do something. Maybe I'm too fussy.

I wouldn't think so. Surely it should be able to work as well elsewhere (like Breezerowser) as it does standalone or as a Photoshop plugin.

Glad to hear you are getting along with PTLens. I'm regularly
astonished at what it does for UWAs and how it does it in the user
interfaces.

Yes, I like what I see there too. I don't think it's available for the Mac world though, or at least it wasn't when I checked some time ago, which is a pity for Mac users.

--
Cheers from John from Adelaide, South Australia
John Harvey Photography http://johnharvey.com.au
Canon 40D, Canon 20D & Fuji F10